WHY KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE OCCURS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS, HOMOPHILY AND PROXIMITY
Roberto Dandi, Gabriele Gabrielli, Mario Losito, Silvia Profili

This study focuses on the motivational aspects behind the emergence of knowledge exchange networks in organizational settings. So why do knowledge exchange relations occur? Why do they form in the way that they do? What are the main variables to take into account? By integrating two traditions, literature on organizational motivations and literature on knowledge networks, we tested three theoretical mechanisms that may answer these questions: homophily, social embeddedness and physical proximity. We used social network analysis to measure and analyze the social networks within an Italian Business School. Results show that these measures have different impacts on knowledge exchange relations. The resulting model increases the understanding of the emergence of informal social networks and suggests interesting managerial implications for practitioners, especially in human resources management.